In June, the sun is up in Dubai before 5:30am. If you work late, travel, pray at Fajr and go back to sleep, or have a child who wakes with the light, that is not a small detail.
Most people buy blackout curtains, hang them, and find the room is still too bright. Then they assume they bought the wrong fabric. Usually they did not. Almost every blackout complaint is a fitting problem.
Almost every complaint that blackout curtains do not work is a fitting problem, not a fabric problem.
Blackout is a lining, not a fabric
This is the thing most people have backwards.
Blackout is a dense, usually three-pass coated lining sewn behind the fabric you actually see. It is not a type of cloth and it is not a colour.
Which means you are not stuck with a heavy dark curtain. A pale linen, a soft beige, a light grey — any of them can be fully blackout, because the lining behind is doing the work. The room can look light and still go dark.
It also means that a curtain sold as a blackout curtain with no lining behind it is not one.
The four places light gets in
If your blackout curtains are not working, it is almost certainly one of these.
1. Over the top. The track is fixed just above the window frame, so there is a gap between the top of the curtain and the ceiling, and a glow across the ceiling at dawn. Fix the track at or near the ceiling and this disappears.
2. Around the sides. The track stops at the edge of the window, so light comes around the edge of the fabric. The track needs to run well past the glass on both sides, and the curtain needs to return to the wall at each end rather than ending in mid-air.
3. Down the middle. The two curtains meet but do not overlap. An overlap arm at the centre, so one panel crosses the other by several centimetres, closes it.
4. Through the folds. Not enough fabric. A flat-pulled blackout panel leaks at every fold. Two to two and a half times the track width is what a curtain needs to close properly.
Every one of those is decided when the window is measured and the track is fitted. None of them is solved by buying more expensive fabric.
Blackout or dimout?
Blackout lining stops effectively all light through the fabric. Bedrooms.
Dimout — sometimes sold as room-darkening — cuts most of it but leaves a soft glow. Fine for a living room, usually not enough for a bedroom you want to sleep in past sunrise.
If you are not sure, ask for blackout. The cost difference is small and nobody has ever complained that a bedroom was too dark.
The heat half of the job
In a cooler country a blackout curtain is about darkness. Here it is also about temperature.
The lining is a second barrier between the glass and the room. On a window that takes direct afternoon sun, that is the difference between a bedroom you can walk into at 9pm and one the air conditioning is still catching up with.
If the bedroom faces west, this matters as much as the darkness does, and it is the argument for a thermal or blackout lining even in a room where you would accept a bit of light.
Children’s bedrooms: one extra rule
Everything above applies, plus one thing that is not negotiable.
No looped cords. The hazard in a child’s room is the cord, not the curtain. Cordless or motorised operation removes it completely, and that is what we fit as standard in any room a child uses. Where a cord cannot be avoided, it is secured with a cleat or a breakaway device, out of reach.
Blackout also genuinely helps with naps. A room that stays dark through the afternoon is the difference between a nap and no nap.
What about a blackout blind instead?
A blackout roller with side channels can get very close to full darkness, and it suits a small window, a bathroom or a room where a curtain would be in the way.
Without channels it will glow at the edges, which is why a plain roller is not a blackout solution on its own.
In a bedroom with a normal window, a well-fitted lined curtain is usually the better answer, and it is warmer, quieter and softer than a blind. Many bedrooms end up with both: a roller behind for the daytime, curtains in front for the night.
A short checklist before you order
Ask whoever is quoting you these five questions. If they cannot answer them, they are selling fabric rather than a dark room.
What lining is included — blackout, dimout or standard? How far past the glass will the track run on each side? Will the track be fixed at the ceiling or above the frame? Is there a centre overlap? What fullness is the quotation based on?
Where to go next. See custom made curtains for how lining, fullness and track are quoted separately, curtain installation for the fitting detail, and sheer vs blackout curtains if the room is used in the daytime too.
Frequently asked questions
Do blackout curtains really block all light?
The fabric does. Whether the room goes dark depends on the fitting: the track height, how far it runs past the glass, the centre overlap and the fullness. Those four decide the result far more than the fabric grade.
Can blackout curtains be a light colour?
Yes. Blackout is a lining sewn behind the face fabric, so a pale linen or beige can be fully blackout. The colour you see has nothing to do with the performance.
Do blackout curtains keep a room cooler?
They reduce heat coming through the glass, which is most noticeable on windows taking direct afternoon sun. In a west-facing Dubai bedroom it is a real and useful effect.
What is the difference between blackout and dimout?
Blackout stops effectively all light through the fabric; dimout leaves a soft glow. For a bedroom, choose blackout.
Are blackout curtains safe for a child’s room?
Yes, provided they are cordless or motorised. Looped cords are the hazard, and we fit cordless or motorised as standard in children’s rooms.
Should I use a blackout blind or blackout curtains?
A blackout roller with side channels suits small windows and wet rooms. For a normal bedroom window a lined curtain usually gives a better result and a warmer, quieter room. Some bedrooms use both.
